Updates from the edge of the Web

(Re)Introducing TogetherJS (the service formerly known as TowTruck)

Mozilla TowTruck is now Mozilla TogetherJS. It’s just a different name, with the same underlying experience and technology. TogetherJS is a service that adds collaboration features and tools to your website.

Why the name change?
TowTruck initially started as a service for developers to add to their site so their users could ask their friends for help in real-time whenever they got stuck. While this feature and concept is still there in TogetherJS, the product quickly grew beyond this initial concept to support real-time collaboration for any user context, such as co-authoring, co-editing, and co-researching. We wanted a name that reflects the wider scope of how to use the tools. TogetherJS is about connecting people and knowledge to collaborate in real-time on anything, in any situation where two (or more) people are using or doing something together.

We also wanted to be sure people understand that TogetherJS is a service you can add and integrate with your site using simple client-side techniques.

So what’s new?
We’ve rebranded the website as TogetherJS and we’ve added in some sample apps that you can test with your friends using TogetherJS. The documentation also includes a feature where you can connect directly with the TogetherJS team. Also the TogetherJS dock is improved based on usability testing.

Here are some (but not all) updates:

Auto-follow – a user can now automatically follow another user from page to page.

Participant windows – users can now see more detail about who is in the session with them.

Profile settings – you can now add your own avatar and select your own user color.

Improved notifications – notifications have been updated to make it easier to see what participants are up to and where they are in the session.

Mobile – we have a rough usable prototype for mobile (note – this is not the final version).

What’s Next?
For our next steps we’re looking for guidance and requests from the community! For the next few months we’re focused on new users and contributors, and we want our priorities to reflect the feedback we get from you.

To learn more and get started with TogetherJS, please check out our new site here!